Game/Job balance suggestions

[Shyles]

Well have you seen the duration of some blu magic spells? They last almost 14 minutes or more I would be fine with something along the lines of that.

Which spells are you referring to? I'll admit that I haven't payed much attention to blue spell durations, but most of the regularly used blue spells I've seen (Like Erratic Flutter, Mighty Guard, etc..) are usually around 5 mins. I haven't seen any notable blue spells that lasted 14 mins. I've heard of Scholars can get their Regen durations up that high, and of course Red Mages with composure, but that's when they're in healing/support roles. So my assumption was that high buff durations were meant to be a unique design trait for support jobs. I don't think longer spell durations will benefit tanks much in the end, since they're the most likely to be targeted with dispels anyway.

To be honest, the spell duration complaint for Rune Fencer is new to me. I'm definitely not an authority on the job, but I have played with many Rune Fencers both in Pick-up-Groups and in my LSes. I haven't ever seen them struggle to manage the buffs while tanking nor have I seen them complain about durations. So I'm a little skeptical of how widespread this concern really is.

Also on the topic of Apex parties (Not sure why that topic is in this thread), Moh Gates is excellent for Melee jobs. It is good for both soloing and Melee burns. We already have a thread open about Apex tips and discussion though (http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/th...-Apex-CP-Guide). It's a better thread for Apex since Apex mobs don't have much to do with job balancing.

[Rooj]

and of course Red Mages with composure, but that's when they're in healing/support roles.

Just wanted to throw out there that RDM's role has nothing to do with their enhancing magic duration, and it is completely based around a gearswap. ^^ And Composure which stays on

[Shyles]

Just wanted to throw out there that RDM's role has nothing to do with their enhancing magic duration, and it is completely based around a gearswap. ^^ And Composure which stays on

I probably didn't choose my words well enough, but I don't think you read my post in the right context. I wasn't saying that there was some kind of support "stance" for red mage if that's what you were thinking. I meant it in that Scholar and Red Mage are both primarily support jobs. So with regards to class design and balancing, it makes sense to me that the developers may have decided that the support jobs should be the jobs with the best access to longer buff durations through gear and job abilities. They probably want DD and Tanks to remain dependent on those jobs to a certain degree, rather than giving them similar access to duration increasing equipment.

With that said, Rune Fencers already have several ways to increase enhancing durations in their AF gear. So that's why I don't personally agree that Rune Fencers really need longer spell durations. It hasn't really been a problem for the RUN tanks that I've seen.


EDIT: I looked at the list of Blue spells on BG-wiki (though it doesn't look complete), to see if I could find anything backing up Railer's comment about 14 min blu spells, and I couldn't find anything. All of the enhancing spells listed cap at 5 mins, not counting unbridled learning. With 5/5 merits into diffusion, you can get another 25%, and if you use diffusion while wearing the relic boots, you get another 25%. So unless there is some other factor I don't know about, it's a maximum 7.5 mins for enhancing blue spells, and it requires an ability with a 10 minute recast. It's hardly overpowered. Rune Fencers are in a muuuch better place in comparison. Scholars and Red mages can definitely get much higher durations on certain spells. But if I'm right about the job archetypes, then they're supposed to.

[Angrykitty]

Any plans on removing the bugs for Yoran-Oran (UC) where he doesn't use his weaponskill to replinish his own MP? I also noticed he has an unreasonable latency when removing debuffs and casting cures on the main tank. Is this intended for him to play like a handicapped Tarutaru? Would it be possible for us to animate a safety helmet on him as well so when he runs around not spamming cures he can at least be protected from falls?

[OmnysValefor]

I probably didn't choose my words well enough, but I don't think you read my post in the right context. I wasn't saying that there was some kind of support "stance" for red mage if that's what you were thinking. I meant it in that Scholar and Red Mage are both primarily support jobs. So with regards to class design and balancing, it makes sense to me that the developers may have decided that the support jobs should be the jobs with the best access to longer buff durations through gear and job abilities. They probably want DD and Tanks to remain dependent on those jobs to a certain degree, rather than giving them similar access to duration increasing equipment.

With that said, Rune Fencers already have several ways to increase enhancing durations in their AF gear. So that's why I don't personally agree that Rune Fencers really need longer spell durations. It hasn't really been a problem for the RUN tanks that I've seen.

@the part I bolded.

I agree with this. Tanking is generally pretty easy. Occasional participation in skillchains and buff upkeep is about all there is to do besides maintaining hate which doesn't change a whole lot in complexity regardless of your gear.

Towards the blue mage comment someone else made.. Carch Verve's aquaveil is the major long-duration buff (but requires use of Unbridled Learning, a 5m CD). Nature's meditation (attack boost) lasts 1:30, Haste lasts 5 minutes. Other spells like stoneskins and blinks don't really matter (not that they last extraordinarily long). Not saying BLU needs buffs, but I wouldn't complain at some buff duration options for it, lol^^.

[Angrykitty]

Planning to improve the ambuscade entry system? It's still like shoving cats through a key hole.

[Zeldar]

I did ambuscade enough this month to get 30k total hallmarks , mostly during peak NA times, and didn't run into a problem even once. The longest I've waited is maybe a minute.

[Railer]

Lets see to prepare to tank on runefence tank I have to cast nin shadows, spike spell, stoneskin, aquaveil , put 3 runes(which takes 12 seconds), barspell, crusade , phalanx, temper, refresh, Regen and maybe protect/shell. Then some one dc's or forgets tribs ect...

The reason I want spell duration increase is becasuse in the middle of the fight there simply isn't time between foil and flash casting shadows and various other run abilities. Some of these spells are covered by other support jobs but hp scaling often leaves these jobs out from participating.

I'm not saying that only Run should get enhancing duration buff, just enhancing in general.

[OmnysValefor]

Lets see to prepare to tank on runefence tank I have to cast nin shadows, spike spell, stoneskin, aquaveil , put 3 runes(which takes 12 seconds), barspell, crusade , phalanx, temper, refresh, Regen and maybe protect/shell. Then some one dc's or forgets tribs ect...

Figured I'd go ahead and bold he ones that you generally need to cast, most the time, and nin shadows if you're /nin. WHM's and SCH's (esp SCH) regen is more potent and likewise for WHM's barspells. Refresh it during fight, maybe if the whm can't. I can refresh myself during the fight if noone else is. You basically just listed off every buff RUN has as buffs RUN needs to cast.

I can cast Temper early in the fight after first enmity unload. It has some volatile enmity on it (the kind that decays over time) so it's probably better than whiffing.

There are very few fights that open hard and need pre-emptive stoneskin for.

I like rune > crusade > rune > phalanx > rune > aquaveil.

Oh and foil.

If you're talking about apex, you hardly need to preload all those spells. Stagger them throughout the fights.

[Afania]

Figured I'd go ahead and bold he ones that you generally need to cast, most the time, and nin shadows if you're /nin. WHM's and SCH's (esp SCH) regen is more potent and likewise for WHM's barspells. Refresh it during fight, maybe if the whm can't. I can refresh myself during the fight if noone else is. You basically just listed off every buff RUN has as buffs RUN needs to cast.

I can cast Temper early in the fight after first enmity unload. It has some volatile enmity on it (the kind that decays over time) so it's probably better than whiffing.

There are very few fights that open hard and need pre-emptive stoneskin for.

I like rune > crusade > rune > phalanx > rune > aquaveil.

Oh and foil.

If you're talking about apex, you hardly need to preload all those spells. Stagger them throughout the fights.

Tbh I'd rate SS a spell that needs to be cast constantly on RUN. It's like HP buffer that can buff RUN's HP to 3k in escha even without +HP gears(or 3.5k with good +HP gears), and gives extra room to take hits from high dmg TP moves. SS is cheap and it doesn't take a lot of time to cast on RUN, I don't see a reason not to cast it.

Spikes may have a use, I found shock spikes stuns some adds in escha so it make them hit less if they're stunned every hit.